A trifle for lemon lovers

Dear SOS: I was at Joe’s Restaurant in Venice recently for brunch and had a fabulous lemon trifle cake that my friends and I were crazy about. Could you help us out?

Carolyn Gold

Santa Monica

Dear Carolyn: At Joe’s, pastry chef Mark Willard makes an elaborate trifle cake (shown at right) that he graciously simplified for home cooks. A tangy Meyer lemon curd is mixed with whipped cream, topped with berries and sandwiched between slim layers of a delicious pistachio-citrus cake.

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Meyer lemon trifle cake

Total time: 1 hour, 20 minutes plus chilling time

Servings: 12 to 14

Note: If Meyer lemons are not available, you may substitute regular lemons.

Lemon curd

1 cup Meyer lemon juice (juice from about 6 lemons)

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) butter

1 cup sugar, divided

1/3cup cornstarch

4 eggs

1. In a saucepan, combine the lemon juice, butter and one-half cup sugar over medium heat.

2. Whisk together the remaining sugar and the cornstarch. Add the eggs and whisk until smooth.

3. When the lemon juice mixture comes to a boil, remove it from the heat and slowly pour it into the egg mixture, whisking constantly, until fully incorporated.

4. Return the mixture to the saucepan and whisk vigorously over medium heat until thickened, about 4 minutes.

5. Strain the curd through a fine mesh strainer into another bowl and cool by placing it in a larger bowl filled with ice cubes and water. Set aside. (Makes 2 1/2 cups.)

Pistachio-citrus cake

4 eggs

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup orange juice

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped pistachios

1. In large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until light and frothy. Slowly pour in the olive oil and orange juice and continue to whisk until incorporated.

2. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the pistachios to the flour mixture, then gently fold the pistachio-flour mixture into the batter.

3. Spoon the batter into a buttered and floured 9-inch cake pan. Bake on the center rack of a 350-degree oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 35 to 40 minutes.

4. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool on a rack to room temperature. When it’s cool, remove it from the cake pan and, using a serrated knife, slice it in half to create two equal round discs or layers of cake. Place wax paper between the two layers and set aside.

Assembly

1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks

1 recipe lemon curd

1 pistachio-citrus cake

1 pint berries (blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, etc. or a mix)

1. Line a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Place one layer of the pistachio-citrus cake in the bottom of the springform pan.

2. In a large bowl, fold the whipped cream into the lemon curd.

3. Spoon one-fourth of the lemon-cream mixture evenly over the cake layer. Distribute half the berries evenly over the lemon-cream layer. Spread another one-fourth of the lemon-cream mixture over the fruit and place the second cake layer on top, pressing it gently so that it sits evenly. Spread the second layer with lemon-cream mixture and fruit.

4. Spread the remaining lemon-cream mixture over the top.

5. Refrigerate the Meyer lemon trifle cake for two to three hours or overnight to set.

Each of 14 servings: 475 calories; 7 grams protein; 45 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram fiber; 31 grams fat; 13 grams saturated fat; 171 mg. cholesterol; 185 mg. sodium.